Once again, a federal court has taken the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and OOIDA to task for trying to shut down Mexican trucking in the United States by denying their Petition for Review.

Judge Wardlow, writing for the majority, got the essence of the petitioners bogus claims correct. It wasn’t about safety, but fear of competition from Mexican truckers and carriers who have a superior safety rating to those of their US and Canadian counterparts.

The opinion stated in part.

The present challenge arises from a thirty-five-year-long dispute between Mexico and the United States over cross- border trucking operations. U.S.-domiciled truckers have long opposed the entry of Mexico-domiciled truckers through both the political process and in the courts under the banner of highway safety, though their real concern appears to be preventing the increased competition threatened by the entrance of Mexico-domiciled carriers.

The 9th Circuit summarily rejected all of the Teamsters and OOIDA’s oft repeated and bogus claims against Mexican trucks operating in the United States.

We’re still waiting for a response from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on basically the same debunked claims as made before the 9th Circuit, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals etc. In total, all the challenges made against Mexican trucks, Mexican truckers, the pilot program, the validity of Mexico’s Licencia Federal de Conductor have all been thrown out of court.

However, part of the opinion of the 9th gives us hope this will be the end of this waste of the federal courts time and resources. To wit:

“The preclusive effect of a federal-court judgment is determined by federal common law.” Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880, 891 (2008). Under federal common law, issue preclusion “bars successive litigation of an issue of fact or law actually litigated and resolved in a valid court determination essential to [a] prior judgment, even if the issue recurs in the context of a different claim.” Id. at 892

In other words, every successive lawsuit or Petition for Review against Mexican trucks has been the same set of bogus “facts” couched in different language, and all have been denied.

Have we seen the last of these bogus and frivolous lawsuits? With the administration we have in Washington now, who can say.

On January 11, before Trump was even in office, James Hoffa, Teamsters President was in Washington in private meeting with Trump concerning in part, the Mexican truck issue. We’re certain he tried to convince Trump of the dangers of these “unsafe Mexican trucks and their drunk and drugged drivers”, and seeing the stupidity of the President, evidenced by his daily tweets, he was probably successful.

With Trump threatening to modernize NAFTA or pull out of it, time will tell. Should the Teamsters or OOIDA be successful in having the part of NAFTA regarding foreign carriers removed, it would need to apply to Canadian and Mexican carriers, not one or the other. Canada would not stand for it nor would Mexico and the lawsuits and injunctions would follow.

As I pointed out earlier, it’s never been about safety. Even in 1982. When Reagan signed the Omnibus Truck Bill of 1982 into law, it was about equal access which Canada and Mexico was not granting to the United States. Immediately after it’s signing, Canada quickly changed it’s laws and allowed US trucks access to it’s country, and consequently, the ban on Canadian carriers was likewise lifted.

That wasn’t good enough for the Teamsters and there was some bloody fights and protests by the Teamsters over allowing Canadian trucks into the US, until Canada laws were changed allowing the Teamsters to organize in Canada. Then it all went away.

Mexico, on the other hand, has some powerful labor unions and only allowed US trucks into that country when we honored our commitment under NAFTA. However, the law has not been nor will it ever be changed to allow Teamsters to gain a foothold into that country. Thus, the Teamsters continued opposition to Mexican trucks.

So far, there is no word from Teamster or OOIDA on the courts decision.

You can listen to OOIDA Vice President spewing his lies and BS before the US Trade Representative here. Of course, comments are disabled so we can’t counter his lies.

As I listen to this testimony, it is total bullshit, nothing but lies and fabrication. $20,000.00 DPF filters? What about the Canadians?

About Author

PMC

35 years in the trucking business and living in Mexico for the past 15 years, make me uniquely qualified to offer my insight and opinion into the Mexican trucking industry and other border issues. A contributor to SiriuxXM Road Dog Channel 106 and to the award winning Lockridge Report, Mexico Trucker Online continues to publish the unvarnished truth about the subjects we cover.

Follow MTO on Social Media

America Recovers Its Greatness

Inauguration 202120/01/2021

2.7years to go.

Subscribe to MTO via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to MTO and receive notifications of new posts by email.